Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: small town recruitment

This is topic small town recruitment in forum Ground Level at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Ramin Hashemi (Member # 2694) on 09-29-2004, 04:51 PM:

For those with theatres in small towns, where there is no theatre competition, how do you go about getting new skilled help? I guess what I mean is, what incentives other than $ do you offer? As we all know, the industry can not compete with the salary of other big boxes.

Posted by Dick Vaughan (Member # 540) on 09-30-2004, 02:30 AM:

I suppose in Texas Houston is considered a small town then [Wink]

Posted by Brandon Willis (Member # 2345) on 09-30-2004, 03:04 PM:

The lure of free movie tickets is very appealing. Unfortunately, it also attracts a lot of screwups, teenagers whose parents are forcing them to get a job and have no interest in providing good customer service, etc. You have to be very selective in who you hire.
The simplest and easiest ways are to put NOW HIRING on the marquee and on the recording, and put a line in your newspaper ad to that effect.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 09-30-2004, 06:37 PM:

If the town is small enough, everyone knows everyone. All you have to do is tell the right people you're looking for workers, and the applications will start coming in. We haven't had to "advertise" for new employees in all of my 25 years in the biz.

Having a place that people like to work at helps too! [Big Grin]

Posted by Richard C. Wolfe (Member # 431) on 10-01-2004, 12:32 AM:

I agree with Mike. It usually does not require any advertising for employees in small towns. I get most of my employees from current staff members. I also tend to go through complete family units, where over time I will have every child in a given family work at the theatre. Some of the larger families with 4 or more kids have supplied me with an employee from that family continuously for up to 10 years. I have had several 2nd generations where teens that worked for me 20 to 25 years ago now have their teen kids working for me. I have one family unit that is in the 3rd generation, grandmother, mother and daugther. However, before you begin thinking that I must be 100 years old... the first two generations worked for me at the same time.

Just like Mike said, having a place that people like to work at helps too. My janitor has been with me for over 30 years. One cashier has been here for 17 years. The other cashier is in her 3rd year and says she plans to stay here for the rest of her working life. My assn't manager is in his 11th year. The doorman has been here for 6 years, and one of the concessionaires 8, another 4, and the other one about 2.

In reference to what Brandon said about putting a help wanted line in the newspaper movie ad, I used to do that on occassion, and it worked well. However, the newspaper no longer allows advertisers to do that. You must now buy a separate classified ad. That just proves how desperate newspapers are getting for advertising as their circulations continue to erode.

Posted by Ramin Hashemi (Member # 2694) on 10-02-2004, 07:09 PM:

Thanks for all the input. I guess I need to be more specific.

We have a theatre in a small town in California. As far as staff member help, I have more applications than I know what to do with. Like some of you, I have had very long term employees, and I have second generation employees as well. Like most small towns, theatre jobs is one of the most sought after ones out there.

I have been looking for a management level person, with management (preferably theatre management) experience. This is where the difficulty comes in. People are either way under qualified, or are working for the big boxes making $40k.

So, how do I go about recruiting someone from out of town. What incentives do you look for?

thanks

Ramin